GXI: A Weekend in Review

Last week GXI graced the RDS with a gaming-focused event from the practised hands of Dublin Comic Con and AsOne Productions. With big-name guests such as Carolina Ravassa and Anjali Bhimani of Overwatch and Peter Jessop of Fallout 4. In a year filled with Gaming events, what does GXI do for a community in need of a win?

The Floor

The main hall hosted stalls and merchandise, artists, a panel area, and a retro gaming section. There was plenty of space, but the area could have used a few more stands to fill it out. Some of the stalls themselves weren’t quite right for a gaming event, selling film and anime merchandise. The retro gaming section had plenty of old favourites, including GoldenEye and Duckhunt. The Panel area was screened off with black curtains, but I feel a timetable could have been put up outside this area so people knew what events were on and when.

The Game Area

Let me just start by saying Big Betty is incredible. I was lucky enough to get a tour of the beast, seeing the casting booth in the back of the cab, the production room in the trailer, main stage, and all the booths. It has everything you need for serious mobile production and I hope Big Betty comes back.

The Rig of Big Betty contains a full casting studio nestled in the back of the cab. Photo courtesy of Chelsea Kiernan.

Nintendo’s set up was a great addition. The wait to play the Switch and it’s latest titles was never too long. RAID was present hosting a PC play area with a few tournaments. Overwatch and League were the most played, and seeing people hop into deathmatch games to Bastion corner-camp was amusing. There were two VR stations, one by Future Shock, Smithfield’s latest gaming venue, and Oculus Cinema, both of which remained busy throughout the day. Minevention provided building competitions and a fix for the Minecraft fans there. Some said that the Minecraft stage should have been screened off like the Main Hall panel area, as their audio would drown out the main stage at times.

For Next Year

Hopefully, GXI returns next year at a more opportune time. This year has been over saturated with gaming events. GXI is left with the burden of fixing people’s faith in gaming events. GXI closes off a tough year for gaming events, especially in the wake of GamerCon and PlayersExpoIreland. The time of year might not suit the event, with the weather approaching its coldest. With Christmas only a month out, some families are inclined to save money for the holidays. Common complaints were simply the space in the main hall, with some attendees saying it would feel a lot busier in a smaller space.

All this said, GXI attracted some big names from Voice Acting. Nintendo officially sponsored the event, which is a tremendous sign of support. While GXI could have been better in some aspects, it was by no means a bad event. Speaking to members of the GXI team, they were happy with how the weekend went with most feedback being positive.

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About The Author

I write about eSports, covering emerging titles, balance patches, and the growth of the Industry itself in Ireland and abroad. My first foray into competitive gaming was Halo 2, and have since played almost every genre competitively. Currently I play across Xbox and PC, with prominent titles being Overwatch, Halo, and PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds. When the tilt overcomes me, and I’m not streaming or gaming, I can be found reading and writing Sci-Fi or playing Dungeons & Dragons.

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we're banking on this being the best

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RAID 2018 is a gaming event, by gamers, for gamers. Offering BYOC LAN tournaments, video game concerts, talks from industry professionals and much more, we’re banking on this being the best gaming event in Ireland during 2018!